different between affix vs ergativity

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin affixus, perfect passive participle of affigere (from ad- + figere), equivalent to ad- +? fix.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /?æ.f?ks/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /?.?f?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Noun

affix (plural affixes)

1. That which is affixed; an appendage.

   Synonyms: addition, supplement; see also Thesaurus:adjunct

2. (linguistic morphology) A bound morpheme added to the word’s stem's end.

   Synonyms: suffix, postfix

3. (linguistic morphology, broadly) A bound morpheme added to a word’s stem; a prefix, suffix, etc.

   Antonym: nonaffix

   Hyponyms: prefix, suffix, infix, circumfix, suprafix

4. (mathematics) The complex number ${\displaystyle a+bi}$ associated with the point in the Gauss plane with coordinates ${\displaystyle (a,b)}$.
5. (decorative art) Any small feature, as a figure, a flower, or the like, added for ornament to a vessel or other utensil, to an architectural feature.

Coordinate terms

• (types of affixes): adfix, ambifix, circumfix, confix, disfix, duplifix, infix, interfix, libfix, postfix, prefix, prefixoid, simulfix, suffix, suffixoid, suprafix, transfix
• clitic

Translations

Verb

affix (third-person singular simple present affixes, present participle affixing, simple past and past participle affixed)

1. (transitive) To attach.

   Synonyms: join, put together, unite; see also Thesaurus:join

   • Should they [caterpillars] affix them to the leaves of a plant improper for their food […]

2. (transitive) To subjoin, annex, or add at the close or end; to append to.

3. (transitive) To fix or fasten figuratively; with on or upon.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, An Hymn of Heavenly Beauty

     Look thou no further, but affix thine eye/On that bright, shiny, round, still moving mass,/The house of blessed gods, which men call sky,/All sow'd with glist'ring stars more thick than grass...

Translations

Further reading

• affix on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin affixum. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.f?ks/
• Hyphenation: af?fix

Noun

affix n (plural affixen, diminutive affixje n)

1. Affix (linguistics and mathematics)

Swedish

Noun

affix n

1. an affix

Declension

English

Etymology

From ergative +? -ity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??(?)???t?v.?.ti/

Noun

ergativity (uncountable)

1. (linguistics) The property of a grammar's (or, by extension, a language's) being ergative; the attribute of possessing a grammatical pattern such that the object of a transitive verb is treated the same way as the subject of an intransitive one, while the subject of the transitive verb is treated differently.
   • 1991, Ronald W. Langacker, Foundations of Cognitive Grammar: Descriptive Application, Volume 2, Stanford University Press, page 386,

     We can speak of ergative/absolutive organization whenever intransitive subjects pattern with transitive objects (to the exclusion of transitive subjects). So defined, ergativity is independent of case marking and has many linguistic manifestations, some being observable in any given language. At the same time, ergativity competes with accusativity even in languages where it represents the predominant pattern.

   • 1994, R. M. W. Dixon, Ergativity, Cambridge University Press, page 1,

     Ergativity is thus complementary to the familiar grammatical pattern of accusativity, in which one case (nominative) marks both intransitive and transitive subject, with another case (accusative) being employed for transitive object.

   • 2000, Javier Rivas, Ergativity and Transitive Gradients in the Accusative and Infinitive Construction, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Imprenta Universitaría, page 153,

     Apart from the types of split ergativity-accusativity dealt with in the previous section, there are languages which show degrees of ergativity in their morphology and also —although less frequently— in their syntax, […] . Actually, Dixon (1994: 172) claims that syntactic ergativity is much stranger cross-linguistically than some degree of morphological ergativity. […] There are many languages in the world which show some degree of ergativity.

Usage notes

• Writers distinguish between morphological and syntactic ergativity, based on how it is manifested. (In studied languages, syntactic ergativity has not been observed to exist in the absence of the morphological sort.) For more details, see Ergativity#Realization of ergativity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Coordinate terms

• accusativity

Translations

See also

• absolutive case
• accusativity
• ergative case

Further reading

• Ergative–absolutive language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Nominative–accusative language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Morphosyntactic alignment on Wikipedia.Wikipedia